Francescan War Chronicles 1: Space Knight Denxeiter

by C. K. Pershing

  As they took their glasses, Siegfried raised his and said, “A toast to these fine warriors of the Francescan Star Empire. And to all of our heroes who couldn’t be here with us now. We will remember them always. Cheers.”

  At the second part of Siegfried’s toast, Feln noticed Valisia close her eyes and smile gently, mouthing out a silent prayer to Katashka.

  “Cheers,” the assembled crowd answered and they all took a drink of their wine.

  “Please, everyone have fun and help yourself to the buffet my chef has prepared in the next room. Make yourself at home and should you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” The assembled officers went back to talking and Siegfried turned to Feln and his friends. “I’d like to speak with each of you individually about your exploits. But until then, please…” He swept his hand over the area of the room before pulling Kesh aside to talk.

  The rest of their group were soon swamped by the other guests shaking their hands, bowing, offering more drinks, and asking questions. The last Feln saw of Kesh for a while was the Prince leaning in to whisper something to him. Kesh responded and the Prince laughed heartily before slapping Kesh on the back.

  “Geez, does the admiral know everybody?” Aaltskog asked under her breath.

  “Apparently not Aristide,” Feln said.

  Aaltskog laughed. “No, guess not. And look at how the Prince is laughing. Until now, I wasn’t sure he could even smile. Oh hey! Look at the Captain.” She pointed excitedly.

  Feln looked where Aaltskog was pointing to see Larkin already surrounded by a group of men and some women in a far corner of the room. It looked like she was singing something but over the noise of the crowd, Feln couldn’t hear. It must have been something bawdy because occasionally one of her audience would let out a hoot or a catcall. This only seemed to make Larkin grow even more animated and she went through the motions of stripping off her clothes to even louder laughter and hoots of approval.

  Even though Feln couldn't hear her, he laughed and clapped when she finished her song. Aaltskog whistled happily as Larkin bowed to her audience. She then grabbed two nearby officers, one male, and one female and kissed them to even more applause.

  “Ha, and she was the one always hassling us about making out in public,” Aaltskog said. “But look at her go!” She laughed approvingly.

  “Well, this is a private party, so I guess now’s her time to go wild,” Feln said. He looked around for Valisia and saw her near one of the display models of an early Alden prototype. She was talking and gesturing excitedly to a group of younger officers who obviously shared her enthusiasm.

  “Y’know, while me and Valisia were looking for you on that planet, we had lots of time for small talk,” Aaltskog said. “Don’t tell her I told you, but she really likes…” She leaned in to whisper something.

  “Group sex,” Feln finished for her.

  Aaltskog recoiled. “What? How’d you know?”

  “It kinda came out during an argument between her and Katashka that I ended up being a witness to.”

  “Ah. Well. So yeah, I’m watching her with all those other mech heads over there. How much you wanna bet she doesn’t try to organize some intimate fun with a party of other like-minded souls?”

  “Interesting way of putting it. But yeah, I hear you.”

  Feln noticed that he and Aaltskog didn't seem to be as popular as their friends. A few people came by and chatted with them here and there, but for the most part, Larkin and Valisia were the draw.

  When he said as much to Aaltskog, she nodded. “Yeah, I think we weird them out. The Captain and Valisia are regular Navy. But we’re the freaks from the Space Knight Academy. I think maybe we’re a little too strange for people used to basic ship to ship combat.”

  Feln was incredulous. “These people live on a ship that houses cities and forests and has weapons that can activate black holes and destroy planets, and we’re beyond the pale?”

  “Yeah, but that’s all still pretty standard weapons stuff to them. We’re from an outfit that half the people involved in don’t understand— me and you included— dealing with wacky Ancient sciences, magic, other-dimensional entities and God knows what. If I really think about it, I get scared and I’m a product of all that weird crap I just listed.”

  “I guess. Still, everybody on the Tannhauser’s always made us feel welcome.”

  “Yeah, because that’s a ship built with the specific purpose of carrying around Hyper Battle Machines. It makes sense the crew would be a little more open. But I get the feeling a lot of these people have spent most of their time living only on this ship. It’s its own little world and watching Machines from afar might be okay. But bringing scary stuff inside that little world is gonna be unnerving.”

  “Still, you’d think—“

  “Feln, Aaltskog, where are you?” a girl’s voice called out.

  “Uh oh,” Feln said.

  The entire room stopped what they were doing and bowed. Feln and Aaltskog followed suit as Kriemhilde made her way up to them.

  A cadet hurried along behind her and when she finally stopped in front of Feln, the cadet announced, “Presenting the Duchess of Hellespont and Fifth In The Line of Succession, Space Knight Kriemhilde Francesca II.” His job done, and with Kriemhilde obviously impatient, the cadet turned and walked out of the room so quickly it was almost a run.

  “Everybody rise,” Kriemhilde said. “Please go back to what you were doing.”

  Feln and Aaltskog rose along with everybody else in the room. Slowly the other guests got back to talking and some music started playing from somewhere.

  “Ah, there we go. That’s more like it,” Kriemhilde said. Now that Feln could see her in person, he was surprised that she was only slightly taller than Aaltskog. Her braided hair was also longer than he thought, the two braids falling down her chest and reaching to her waist. Interweaved with the braids were black ribbons with small silver studs. Now that Feln could see her entire body and custom Space Knight uniform, he noticed that instead of pants, she wore a long pleated floor length skirt. He was curious to know how such an arrangement would work if she were to ever engage in hand to hand combat, but didn’t ask.

  “I’m so glad to meet both of you in person,” she sighed. She gave Feln, then Aaltskog a big hug. Aaltskog seemed to stiffen at first, but soon seemed to be won over by Kriemhilde’s earnestness and hugged her back. “Let me see your eyes,” Kriemhilde said and before Aaltskog could say anything, Kriemhilde brushed her hair away. “They’re even more wonderful than I imagined,” she said dreamily and then she kissed Aaltskog. The kiss was light at first, but then began to get more passionate.

  To Feln’s surprise, Aaltskog kissed her back and they pulled each other even closer. He glanced around the room to see if anybody else was watching, but the rest of the crowd seemed to be studiously avoiding looking their way. Kriemhilde pulled herself away suddenly with a confused look on her face. “Forgive me, I don’t know what came over me.”

  Aaltskog seemed just as confused. “Please don’t apologize. I don’t know what I was doing either.” Her eyes were still somewhat visible and Feln thought he could see the stars rotating along each of their own axes. This was in contrast to what he’d seen before when they all orbited the pupil.

  “It probably has something to do with you being a Blessed Royal and her being a Maass creation,” a voice said softly from behind them. Feln turned to see a young man standing there. His hair was tied back and he wore a long black cloak over a dark gray uniform. Feln thought his hair was black, then realized it was actually dark purple. The young man bowed to Feln. He smiled at Aaltskog, his purple eyes with white stars twinkling.

  “You’re one of my brothers,” Aaltskog whispered. Feln had only ever heard Aaltskog refer to Denxeiter as her brother. But standing before them was undeniably another Maass creation.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I’m not the only one!” Aaltskog cried as she leapt into the other Companion’s arms and hug
ged him.

  Feln could hear her start to sob and through her tears, she said, “I thought I was the only one left. But you’re here.” She’d never made it a point of sadness before when she thought she was the last Maass Companion. But perhaps seeing this Companion in front of her now stirred feelings she had shut away or didn’t know she had.

  He gently rubbed Aaltskog’s back and said, “Yes, I’m here. Don’t cry.” He surveyed the room where there were some curious glances their way and said, “Perhaps we should have some privacy and let these poor people truly relax.”

  He took both Aaltskog’s and Kriemhilde’s hands and led them into a side room. Feln followed along and after seating them on a couch, the Companion closed the door. He pulled over a chair and sat down.

  “Before anything, I should introduce myself. I’m Aalveus. Maass Atelier Companion, Number Zero. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Little Sister.” Aalveus nodded to Feln. “Captain.”

  “Why have I never heard of you?” Aaltskog asked. “And how are you Kriemhilde’s Companion? Companions are supposed to be about the same age as the Space Knight. She’s eighteen. I’m 27, but based on your number you have to be a least ten years older than me since Number One, Aadelbart, was nine years older and I’m Number Seven. But you don’t look like you’re in your late 30’s. You look like you’re the same age as Kriemhilde. So what gives?”

  “Funny coming from a girl who looks like a pre-teen,” Aalveus said with a wry smile. “I’m eleven years older than you, in fact. And while that’s the general rule to keep the ages similar, the Imperial Household makes its own rules. It was the wish of the Household and our creator that his first Companion be reserved for the first Royal to be Blessed. Until then, I would remain in stasis and kept secret. I don’t know the reason, that’s just the way it was planned.

  “And so I slept until the day a Royal received the Blessing. I couldn’t even wake up until the stasis system scanned Kriemhilde to confirm that she fulfilled the requirement. I wonder if that’s what kept me from killing myself when I woke up and found our creator was dead. Perhaps my programming is different enough to have saved me from the fate.”

  “Yeah, but what about me?” Aaltskog asked. “I’m still alive and I don’t have any special Royal programming.”

  “That’s the bigger mystery,” Aalveus said. “And your guess is as good as mine.”

  “So if you’ve been awake and alive for the last six years, why haven’t you contacted me? It would have been nice to know I wasn’t the only one left after our father killed himself…and then our siblings all followed his example.”

  “In a roundabout way, that’s my fault,” Kriemhilde said. “Because of who I am— although not because of any decision on my part. Thanks to who my family is, I didn’t attend the Space Knight Academy, as you know. I’ve been tutored at home and done all my training in a private system that is off limits to anyone outside the Household.

  “There were already enough leaks about myself and my Blessing without letting it be known that my Companion was a secret Maass creation. That’s why we falsified the truth about Aalveus being alive and allowed the public to think I had just another normal Companion. It was better to let the world not know about him with the potential of Maass hunters adding more complications to an already fragile situation.

  “In a way, we’re both prisoners. We can only be on certain royal ships. And even then, Aalveus has to wear dark sunglasses to hide his eyes from most of the crew. Even on this ship, he had to keep them on until we arrived at this actual party where my cousin’s close associates know us.”

  Kriemhilde took both of Aaltskog’s hand in hers, “Of course, it was a terrible thing to let you believe you were alone. I’d think about it often and I felt horrible. Maybe that’s why I jumped into the battle. I wanted to help Feln and through him, do something kind for you.”

  She smiled at Feln. “At first I tried to keep my distance during the battle, but when you volunteered to fight by my side, I couldn’t resist. It took every ounce of willpower from telling you about Aalveus right then and there. And then when I found out Aaltskog was actually with you in Denxeiter… It was torture. I’m so glad for this party so you could finally meet.”

  “Going back for a moment to the time we kept my existence a secret, there was also some worry of how you might handle the news,” Aalveus said to Aaltskog. “You’ve obviously done well with Feln here. Why dredge up sad memories that could potentially make you depressed? So when I was told it would be best not to contact you for security, I went along with it for my own reasons. I’ve watched you from afar and have been very proud of you.

  “I may be older than you from the standpoint of my date of creation, but from a consciousness standpoint, you’re older than I am. Unlike other Companions that come out of incubation at five, I was aged to twelve in stasis and learned everything through simulation, rather than life experience. It remains to be seen if that was a good idea or not since my life experiences are vastly inferior to a normal Companion’s.

  “My aging went on hold and was frozen when I became twelve and stayed that way until I came out of stasis when a Blessed Royal came along— in this case, Kriemhilde. My actual age is 38, but overall, my consciousness is only eighteen. You’re nine years older than me by that metric. In many ways, you’re my big sister and I’m in awe of what you’ve done with your life. All that you’ve done in the fight against the Union. The Resonance. Amazing.”

  “Was that fight with the Union your first actual battle?” Feln asked Kriemhilde.

  “Yes.”

  “Wow. Well, then let me tell you something,” he said to Aalveus, “You’re right up there with your sister when it comes to tuning Machines. We were both pretty blown away at just how easily Kriemhilde plowed through the enemy.”

  Aaltskog nodded emphatically as Feln spoke before adding, “And speaking of Resonance, I do wonder if it might work for you guys too. A Maass creation, a Royal, and the newest Hyper Battle Machine to enter service. If we were able to do it with an older Machine and a hick from a planet in the middle of nowhere, why not you?”

  “The crack about being a hick from the middle of nowhere notwithstanding,” Feln said, “that’s an interesting idea, but probably fatal.”

  “Yeah because you won’t know unless you try it and unfortunately, if something goes wrong, you’re dead. So uh… forget I brought it up,” Aaltskog said with a nervous laugh.

  “Yes, I’d rather Kriemhilde never gets caught in the situation where she has to try it,” Aalveus said. “And for that matter, just because the two of you came back from your attempt, I’m not so sure you should try it again anytime soon. It still seems incredibly dangerous.”

  “You’re preaching to the choir,” Feln said. “At the time we had nothing to lose, but unless we’re in another seemingly no-win scenario again, I’m perfectly happy staying out of it.” He remembered Aaltskog’s brush with death— her eyes and nose bleeding and said, “And I don’t want her to go through it again either.”

  Aaltskog said, “It really is one of those things you do when you think you’re gonna die anyway. So, yeah…”

  Feln was still thinking about the kiss Aaltskog and Kriemhilde shared, and Aalveus’ odd explanation. “So about that kiss,” he said. “You said it’s because one of them is a Blessed Royal and the other is a Maass creation. What does that mean exactly? Can I assume it means the two of you have a relationship like Aaltskog and me and that’s somehow the connection?”

  Kriemhilde laughed softly as Aalveus said, “Oh, heavens no. No, we’re certainly not like the two of you. Our relationship is more like siblings. I’ve always thought of Kriemhilde as my sister.” Kriemhilde nodded in agreement.

  “But from the second I first met her, I had felt as if I had some kind of inherent bond with her. In my case, it was like she and I were somehow family.”

  “And for that matter, I felt the same way about him the moment he came out of stasis and our eyes met,”
Kriemhilde said. “It was like we were fraternal twins separated at birth and somehow being near each other made us feel like we were meeting someone who was part of us.”

  Aalveus said, “I think in my case, it’s something in my programming. But it’s buried somewhere in the other dimensional aspect of my brain, because we haven't been able to find anything that explains it on any standard programming scans.”

  “What about Kriemhilde?” asked Feln.

  “In a lot of ways, she's even harder to figure out because as an organic she doesn’t have any programming that would influence her feelings toward me. But it must have something to do with her Blessing. Maybe my brain is sending some kind of signal to hers through other dimensional means to synch us up that she wouldn’t otherwise receive if she weren’t Blessed or a Royal. Those were the parameters I was designed with, so there may be some kind of feedback I’m sending that she picks up without me realizing.” He looked at Aaltskog and Feln before saying, “You two have never had any kind of feelings like that, right?”

  “No, we fell in love more organically, if you’ll pardon the pun,” Feln said.

  Aaltskog laughed and said, “Yeah, if you knew our history, you’d be bored by how typical it all is. Boy falls in love with girl, girls falls in love with boy, boy then gets cold feet and plays the field for over a decade before coming to his senses and comes back to girl. It’s pretty lame. At least you guys have some kind of cool destiny-type thing, even if it’s not romantic.”

  As Aaltskog spoke, Feln felt a pang of disgust with himself as he was reminded how Aaltskog had stayed loyal to him all the years he “played the field”. She was essentially a slave, forced to be his Companion always. Was her undying love for him real or was it just an algorithm buried deep in her programming to assure the Space Knight and Companion stayed together? Aalveus’ talk about his connection to Kriemhilde dredged up the same uncomfortable thoughts he had earlier and he tried to put them out of his mind for the time being.